Grand Canyon Trip 2018

[JTVaclavik]

We are starting to plan our Grand Canyon trip for summer of 2018, and we are looking for campsites around the area with full hook-ups, that isn't to far away from the Grand Canyon. Where has anyone stayed and how did you like the sites, also what interesting things did anyone do out there or even around the Grand Canyon, besides the Four Corners or Garden of the Gods.

[abarkl]

Checkout what others have to say at RV Park Reviews - Trusted Reviews of Campgrounds & RV Parks.

[Camper_bob]

Assuming you're talking about Garden of the Gods in CO, I'd say it's worth a solid day trip at most. If you're really into climbing, you could make it longer. If I were headed through there, I would take a half day for the Garden, and a half day for Pike's Peak.

[RoWest]

Have been there a couple times, and Grand Canyon Railway RV Park has the most stars in my book. The in-park federal sites are always full. The canyon is 50 miles regardless where you stay, so having tried the KOA and some place adjacent to a diesel stop, this is the cleanest. A block from town and clean. Did I mention it was clean? Your sewer hose must be supported off the slab! That was in CAPS on the hand-out. It is affiliated with a hotel, so you can use their pool. Take the train to the rim for a couple hours. Go to thetrain.com for info.

[ttavasc]

Grand Canyon Railway RV Park is definitely a good one. From there you can take a day trip up AZ64 to the west end of the south rim, then head east staying on AZ64 across the south rim to where it meets US89, then south on US89 to Flagstaff and back to the RV park on I40.

Our youngest daughter went to the university in Flagstaff so we've spent quite a bit of time there. The first Friday of each month there is a "street party" in the old historic downtown area called "Artwalk". The Lowell Observatory is also a fun place to visit. Heading east from Flagstaff on I40 about 45 minutes is Meteor Crater. There is a Good Sam-listed RV park there as well though we have not stayed there. And Sedona is about 45 minutes south of Flagstaff on AZ89A.

If you want to look out a little further for other places to spend some time Lake Mead National Recreational Area is just east of Las Vegas - about 4 hours from the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park. Numerous camping options there. We spent a week last spring on the north shore at Echo Bay. On the north east tip of the lake is Nevada's Valley of Fire State Park. Lots to see there - it's spectacular!

Going further northeast on I15 into southern Utah - the St. George/Hurricane or Kanab areas have some good camping options. These are "base camps" for places like Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. If you are an animal lover then for sure check out the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab.

There really are a lot of things to see/do in that part of the country. It's why we keep going back. Good luck with your planning - it will be a great trip

[pawpaw]

We based ourselves at the Flagstaff KOA last year. It was a convenient, kind of central location for us since we planned to see a lot of the sites in the area including the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Meteor Crater, etc. It was a pretty nice place and we plan to stay there again on our next trip out there with the grand kids next year.

[Desert RVers]

We did the south rim many years ago with our motorhome. We stayed at Trailer Village inside the park. It has full hook ups if I recall correctly. The park itself is ok, but the location is the best. You can walk to the rim of the canyon in 15 minutes or catch a shuttle to various spots along the rim. Here's a link to the NPS site with more info.

[havnfun]

Originally Posted by RoWest

Have been there a couple times, and Grand Canyon Railway RV Park has the most stars in my book. The in-park federal sites are always full. The canyon is 50 miles regardless where you stay, so having tried the KOA and some place adjacent to a diesel stop, this is the cleanest. A block from town and clean. Did I mention it was clean? Your sewer hose must be supported off the slab! That was in CAPS on the hand-out. It is affiliated with a hotel, so you can use their pool. Take the train to the rim for a couple hours. Go to thetrain.com for info.

+2 with RoWest- Stayed at the GC Railway RV Park a few months ago and was very pleased with the location and the clean park. We took the train to GC for the day and it was super! Highly recommend that rv park and the train ride to the grand Canyon. Have fun.
Happy RVing,
Jeff

[oldmanAZ]

In northern AZ, depending on what you like to see and do, also check out Sunset Crater Volcano (not far from Flagstaff) and Wupatki National Monuments (further out from Flagstaff). If you like animals, there is Bearizona Wildlife Park not far from the Williams KOA and about 30mi from Sedona there is Out of Africa Wildlife Park (also has zip lines over the animals).

Lots of jeep tours leave from Sedona on trails through the red rocks.

Railroads? Check the Verde Canyon Railroad that leaves from and returns to Clarkdale.

There are a number of private campgrounds not far from Sedona including a Thousand Trails outside of Camp Verde and in Cottonwood there is Dead Horse State Park (dump station, no sewer hookup); both nice and we've stayed at both. There is the Distant Drums RV Resort near Cliff Castle Casino; they advertise full hookups, but we haven't stayed there.

Into wine? beer? spirits? The Verde Valley is serious wine country and the home of the Southwest Wine Center at Yavapai College. The Verde Valley in Old Town Cottonwood has a number of wine, beer, and 'spirits' tasting rooms and great food with a variety of restaurants and cafes.

Yes, we love living here. Does it show?

[Nukeneck]

If I may throw another perspective in the mix. A few years ago we went to Bryce Canyon NP and stayed at Ruby's resort (Full hook ups.) which is right outside the park. This was a good base camp for doing day trips to Zion NP and the north rim of the Grand Canyon. This view is completely different than the south rim as it is forested until you get right on the rim. You can see the CO. river and there are hikes you can do as well. It is a full day so not as close as you would probably prefer but you can hit 3 National Parks from one campsite

https://www.rubysinn.com/

[JTVaclavik]

Thank you for all the responses, we definitely have a lot of planning to before we go